Sand, Sex, and Science
by Angel Shinigami
Summary: This story follows Greg through his life at the LV Crime Lab, from meeting Gil and Nick, to the life he builds with them, and beyond. THIS IS AU! GilxNickxGreg please Read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Author: AngelShinigami

Warnings: Fluff, language, ….YAOI SLASH ….het-ish…don't like it, don't read it…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CSI or any of their charaters…please don't sue…I'll cry….

Chapter 1

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In a perfect world, the everyone's car works and gas is always below two dollars. Everyone's alarm clocks are set for the right time, no matter what time zone they are in and when the snooze button is hit, the clock doesn't break, despite its previous abuse.

Unfortunately for one blonde Cali boy with an early afternoon interview for the LVPD crime lab, Murphy's Law was in place. Anything that could go wrong, was going wrong, and at the worst possible time.

It had all started with his alarm clock going off an hour later than the original time, due to the fact that he'd been in New York City the previous week for another position. This caused the poor boy to do the Flight of the Bumblebee through the small hotel room pulling on any piece of clothing he could reach before he realized he was trying to put on a shirt for pants and finally took a breath and actually dressed properly.

Once he was dressed, the boy rushed down to his car which simply refused to start.

"Oh Come on!" The boy cried, getting out of the car to kick the side of the hood. "You stupid piece of crap! You can go across the country three times, but you can't even pretend to go twelve city blocks to get me to an important interview?" He kicked the car again. "Why the FUCK did I buy you to begin with!"

Instead of trying to start the car again, the small blonde boy grabbed his messenger bag and locked the doors before he set off to make the long trek, slamming his foot into the trunk for good measure.

The day was hot and the suit jacket he was wearing wasn't helping him any as he weaved in and out of tourists, drunks, and Las Vegas locals that were on their lunch break. None of this helped the boy get to the crime lab any quicker and it was long past his interview time when he finally made it into the building.

"Hi!" He breathed out to the platinum blonde woman behind the reception counter. "I know I'm late, but I am here for the DNA technician position interview…"

The blonde looked up lazily and perused the smaller boy before her with a snap of her bright pink gum that accented her bright red lips.

"Take a seat sugar. They'll be back eventually." She replied, obviously dismissing him as she returned back to her Cosmo.

After an awkward moment, the blonde boy nodded and walked down the indicated hallway and sat down at the first bench he came to, dropping his head into his hands the moment he sat down. It wasn't long before he heard and felt two bodies sit next to him.

Slowly raising his head, the blonde, who stood a good 5'9, felt like a flea compared to a cockroach as he craned his neck up to look first at one very overly muscled man, then the other, both bald and painted in what were obviously prison tattoos.

"Hi," He chirped, figuring it was better to be friendly with the large men that could easily crush him, he had always been told that predators could smell fear. "What are you in for?"

The man he was looking at simply turned his head and snorted at him after having raised an eyebrow, silently asking why the blonde thought he was 'in' for anything.

"The handcuffs kind of give it away," The boy replied to the silent question,. "I'm Greg! What's your name?"

The large man simply snorted again and turned his head away, facing forward once more. Greg looked to the man on his other side and when he realized that neither was going to answer he simply kept talking.

"Well, I think I'll call you Chuck." He said to the man on his left. "And you Larry…" He continued, referring to the man on his right.

Both men smirked slightly at the nick names as the continued to listen to the little boy.

"I'm here for an interview. In DNA. You know, matching and putting criminals away by blood and other bodily fluids? It wasn't what my parents thought I'd do, but I saw this guy give a speech at a symposium once and thought he was so awesome that I began to get more and more into science, then I figured out that I don't like bugs as much as I thought I would, so I branched off on my own, then I double majored and graduated with three minors, my Papa Olaf was proud of that, then I traveled with Dave, my father, for a few months before I got my first job offer and here I am, oh! Speaking of Dave, my whole family has that tattoo, well, my family on his side, the males at least." He grinned, pointing to a small Celtic knot on 'Chuck's' arm. "I get mine in four months! I don't know where I'll put it though, can't put it on my arm, not because I might get a position here, but because I already have other things there and it would look to crowded and although I could get it on my hip, I just don't do what that signifys…"

Both men were now staring at the small boy between them who seemed to have forgotten how to be quite.

"Greg?" A tiny strawberry blonde haired woman asked, standing before the trio, nervously twitching her

hands as the boy stopped talking and nodded to her.

"Hi, I'm Judy, the Swing Shift receptionist, I heard that you were late for the noon group from Kelly and thought I'd take you to the break room for some coffee while you waited for Ecklie, the Day shift supervisor, to get back ok?" She asked, not giving Greg any time to reply as she took his hand and pulled him into a standing position.

"Uh, sure." He said, smiling to her as she quickly walked down the hall. "Bye Chuck, Bye Larry!"

Both men smiled and waved, very flamboyant waves.

"Bye Greg!" 'Chuck' called back.

'Wow…' Greg thought, as he finally faced forward and was pulled into the good sized break room. 'And I thought Aborigines were weird…'

"Ok sweetie, Coffee is over there," She pointed to the stagnate coffee which smelled like death warmed over. "That's about as fresh as it gets around here. The group should be to get you soon."

Greg nodded as she left and he poured himself a cup of coffee, smelling it with a frown before he sat at the table and rose the cup to sniff again.

"You know, it ain't gonna get any better, no matter how many times you smell it" A southern lilt teased from the doorway.

Greg looked up and his world practically exploded with little sparkles and hearts as he watched a taller, but still slightly stocky, well muscled brunette walk into the room, closely followed by a tall black man that slightly resembled Lenny Kravitz.

"Oh…" He answered, mentally berating himself for the oh so intelligent answer.

The brunette chuckled and poured himself a cup of the murky liquid. "Never as sweet as love and blacker than the devils hooves, but if it's coffee, I'll drink it."

"Ah," the blonde replied, still un able to form full sentences.

"You here waiting for someone?" The black man asked, sitting in the chair opposite from Greg, stretching out his long legs and leaning back, observing the young boy in front of him.

"Kind of," Greg replied, finally forming words, focusing on the black man, who while still cute, was not as breathe taking as the other male.

"Cool, waitin' for the interview group?" The brunette asked, smiling at Greg's affirmative nod. "That's cool man, I'm Nick Stokes, one of the CSI on Night shift and this is Warrick Brown, another CSI."

The black man nodded and gave a half wave. "Yo."

"Hi," The blonde replied, "I'm-"

"Greg Sanders?"

Greg turned at the sound of his name and blushed as the sight of at least twenty suited professionals staring back at him.

"You're late." The leader replied, obviously annoyed at the sight of the young boy. "Get at the back of the line, you have a written test next, please follow me."

Greg nodded and stood, leaving the black death on the table as he hurried off, only glancing back once to blush once more at the identical shocked looks on the CSIs faces.

"You see that coming?" Nick asked his friend as he continued to stare after the young blonde.

"Nope…" Warrick replied, taking the untouched coffee and sipping it.

The written test wasn't to hard, true or false, multiple choice, and a few matching thrown in, to tell the truth, Greg felt like he was back in high school. A fact that was only reinforced when he was the first to finish and some of the other applicants glared and rolled their eyes as he sent out of the room.

Out in the Hallway, Greg saw the two large criminals he'd talked to earlier and shrugged as he went over to talk to them again.

"Hey guys," He greeted, sitting on the bench across from the two chained men who simple smiled back at him. "Just a thought….but what did you two do in your off time. You know, other than the whole…criminal…gig…"

'Chuck' gave a chuckle and leaned forward as far as his cuffs would let him.

"Well," He started, "I'm a stylist and my darling brother here is a nail artist."

"Nothing sexier than well cared for nails." 'Larry' added, closing his eyes to visualize for a moment. What he was visualizing, Greg didn't want to know.

"Good to know…" He replied, leaning back into the bench, looking at both men. "So…what did you two do exactly?"

"You mean you don't know?" 'Larry asked, opening his eyes to look over at his brother before both men looked back at the little blonde.

Greg laughed and shook his head, shrugging his shoulders dismissively.

"I've been in Russia with Dave for the last two months." He replied, as if that explained everything.

Both men simply nodded. "Well, we didn't actually do anything. But if we had done anything, it's possible thirteen people ended up decapitated with missing digits. Their bodies doused in lime in ditches and their heads shaved and stuffed before they were turned into mannequin stands for hats and wigs…"

Greg simple stared at the men across from him, not sure if he wanted to run and hide in a corner or if he wanted to pretend he hadn't actually heard that semi confession.

"But it's not like we actually did it." 'Chuck' said with a chipper smile.

"Yeah," 'Larry' replied sarcastically. "Don't know how those fingers and toes got into our closets…"

'Chuck' grew silent for a second before a sly smile crept over his lips and he smirked at an unmentioned memory.

"I do…" He chuckled, causing his brother to elbow him sharply. "I- I mean, look! People!"

Greg looked over and sure enough, more people were now exiting the testing room, most grumbling about not finishing before the allotted time was up.

"Alright," The Tour leader, Conrad Ecklie, called to the assembled group. "We are going to show you the lab then give you a small on the spot test, where everyone will watch, while your tests are graded. Then we will announce who will be called back for a second interview."

The gathered crowd nodded and all began to follow the thin man who had promptly walked away after his short speech.

"I should get going," Greg said with a smile, nodding to each man as he jumped up, slinging his messenger back over his shoulders. "Chuck. Larry."

"Greg." They replied, their voices blending into one as the waved goodbye once more.

"Now this is the DNA lab." Ecklie was saying, just as Greg caught up with the group. "As you can see it is surrounded by glass so that it can been seen into from every angle, just incase."

Some of the group chuckled, others stayed quite, everyone, as a whole, unsure if their guide was making a joke or not.

" Our Lab is the most up to date in the country, as far as we know. From the blood analyzer to the Sample cooler, not a single piece has been over looked. Feel free to look for a moment before we begin the tests."

Greg was in geek heaven. While some of the people were wondering from piece to piece, simple looking at it , the moving on. Greg was like a little blonde blur with twelve hands. He zipped from one to the other, touching and caressing before he was off again, then returned and caressed again.

"Alright everyone. Move away and gather at the door."

The group shuffled and jostled to arrange themselves in some semblance of order before one by one they were brought up to the testing table and given a sealed folder.

At the command, the applicant would open the file and begin to do the do the given task, each different from the last. When it was finally Greg's turn, his stomach was twisted with knots and he was shaking slightly as he took his file and waited, feeling each and every set of eyes staring at him.

'The only way this could be worse is if I were naked…' Greg thought, opening his folder when told. 'Hm…not to hard, extract DNA out of the given evidence. I can do this.'

With ease, the small blonde went though the motions he'd done in school and everything was going just fine until he reached for a pipette and the instruction sheet, which was still in his hand, came alittle to close to the lit Bunsen burner.

"AH!" Greg cried, quickly jerking his hand back, somehow knocking the flame over in the process.

A whirlwind of chaos followed at every turn as Greg tried to right each thing that went wrong in his struggle to put out the flaming instructions.

Greg stood amongst the wreckage as the evaluation team gave him nasty looks and simply told him to leave. It was a good thing he was the last of the group.

"Everyone go to the break room, we shall come to get you shortly." Ecklie said sharply, glaring at the small blonde in front of him as they all left, Greg scurrying away the fastest.

"Not go well?" 'Larry asked, seeing the small blonde's forlorn and very defeated look.

"No…" He replied, picking up the end of his tie, staring at the charred edge. "I don't think there is a word for as bad as I did…"

Greg gave a large sigh and squeaked as the burnt, still slightly smoking edge began to glow an angry red.

"Ah!" He cried, for the second time that day, dropping the silk, quickly slamming his hand down on the glowing material, his face contorting in pain the second he realized what he'd done.

"Ooo…Sweetie…" 'Chuck' murmured softly, motioning the boy over to sit between him and his brother. "We saw the flames from here."

Greg only let out a small sob as he sunk down on the bench, 'Larry's head on top of his actually making him feel better about the abnormally bad interview.

"I really wanted to work here too…" He muttered softly, his eyes drifting over to look down the hall at the break room where all the interviewees were milling around, some hold cups of lukewarm coffee, others talking on cell phones.

"Maybe I am just to young to be in this field yet…"

'Chuck' and 'Larry' looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Look Greg," One of the large men said, Greg not able to muster the energy to look up to see which one. "You must be something special if you got this far for as young as you are. Just because a bunch of over primped, about to be balding, and mostly frigid stiffs won here, it doesn't mean they will everywhere."

"Yes." The other agreed, Greg still unsure of which one. "Because while they rot away here, over stressed with no hope of moving up or out, all hindered by a glass ceiling, you will continue to fly and blossom until you are like Buddha's lotus."

As odd as it was to be sitting in between two very dangerous men, knowing exactly what they did due to their semi confession, he couldn't help but feel better, more empowered, and ready to take on the world.

"You're right." He said, sitting up with a determined look, giving both men a smile which was fully returned, no flamboyance or bravado detectable in their expressions.

"Thatta boy." 'Larry', said as he nudged the boy into a standing position. "Go. Take on the world."

"Right." With a bright smile, the blonde hopped to his feet and was about to run off when he stopped and looked at the chained men with a thoughtfully.

"You know…they might reduce your sentence and let you stay together if you confess about everything." He laughed. "It worked for my uncle Vincent."

Both men nodded and once their new friend had walked off they once again looked at each other.

"Brenden, do you think we should've told him our names?" 'Chuck', whose real name was Branden, asked his brother with a soft, yet oddly deep voice.

"No, he'll figure it out eventually." The other man chuckled, his voice soft and deep as well.

They were quite for a moment before Branden turned to his twin. "So. No eating him?"

"Agreed." The other man nodded.

Both men perked up and held up their chained hands in the same attention getting gesture as Jim Brass, a very surly looking ex homicide cop, walked past them.

"We're ready to confess!"

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I know this is shorter than my normal chapters, but it is just a tester chapter. Tell me if you like it, tell me if I should continue. You know how I love reviews

Alright, small Author Note. Some of you might be thinking, 'Why the HELL do we care about the serial killers??' The answer is that they will come back later, if this continues, trust me I wrote this in conjunction with a friend of mine, Slytherinskitten, it is a combined brain child, with my writing skills, lol. I love all of ya'll

Yours,

AngelShinigami


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Sands, Sex, and Science

Author: AngelShinigami

Warnings: Fluff, language, ….YAOI SLASH ….het-ish…don't like it, don't read it…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CSI or any of their charaters…please don't sue…I'll cry….

AN: One more warning ya'll, please remember this is an AU story. It will not follow everything perfectly or at all after a time. Thanks.

On with the fic!

Chapter 2

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Six months had passed since that terrible day and in that six months Greg had turned down four job offers and toured the labs of eight others before he had finally settled and accepted a teaching position at Quantico while he worked through his Masters programs and started on his Doctorates.

It was a very long term plan, one of which the small blonde wasn't sure if he would be able to fulfill, but he was perfectly willing to try. The only thing he was waiting on was waiting on were his clearances. To be honest…he wasn't sure if he was going to clear those…

"You know, you'd think it would be hard to loose a hat that you never let out of you sight…" Greg mumbled to himself, once more fruitlessly searching for the black fedora he'd sworn he'd just had.

"Wait…" The blonde paused in his search and actually thought about the last time he'd seen his precious hat. "Did I even have it in Miami…no... I guess not…. Wasn't in D.C. or Chicago…"

Counting back, Greg groaned and flopped back onto his bed when he realized exactly where he'd last seen it.

"Vegas!" He moaned loudly, covering his face with his hands as if to hide from the truth. "Why, why, why?"

'I could just call…' He reasoned with himself, rolling into a sitting position. 'Have them send it here. No harm, no foul.'

But no matter how much he thought about it, tried to talk himself out of it, or reason around it, there was no getting away from the fact that if he wasn't there it just wouldn't feel right.

So three days later, Greg found himself stepping off of the red eye surrounded by giggling couples and over eager hopefuls that who had been reading up on their blackjack games.

'Ok…whoever is paying attention to me…' He thought as he grabbed is small duffle out of the over head compartment once they'd landed. 'I'll make you a deal. I get my hat and leave with nothing bad happening to me, and I'll sacrifice a chicken in your name or something…sound good?'

Greg didn't get a reply, not that he was expecting one, but figured that the god accepted his offer when he was able to get a cab on the first try.

"Las Vegas Crime Lab please." He told the, thankfully, English speaking cabbie, rattling off the address off quickly.

The ride was quite, but if gave Greg time to play his DS which the stewardess had insisted he turn off, even though there was a guy to isles away chatting on his cell phone while typing away on his laptop.

Once the car came to a stop, Greg shut off his game and smiled at the man.

"Could you wait for me?" He asked, blushing slightly when the grizzly man gave him a withering look through the review. "Could you wait if I give you a twenty dollar tip?"

The man simply stopped glaring and held out his hand through the window once the small blonde had gotten out.

"I hate this city." Greg grumbled as he walked into the large grayish building, leaving the cab behind with the knowledge that the stupid things' meter was still running.

"Good morning, Crime Lab, hold please. Good Morning, Crime Lab, Hold please. Good Morning- Greg!" .

Greg smiled as the tiny woman told the person on the other end of the phone to hold as well as she took off her headset and gave him her full attention, despite the flashing lights.

"Judy, hi." He greeted with a smile.

"Did you come back to apply for another position?" She asked with a teasing grin. "Because you know, I could always use a new chair if you wanted to set this one on fire as well…"

"Very tempting," Greg replied, winking saucily at the receptionist. "But I promised not to set anything on fire for another four months, or at least until I'm cleared for my new job, which ever comes first."

The red head laughed as she answered another call and connected one of the flashing lights to someone higher up before she turned back to Greg.

"So if you aren't here to get me a new chair or profess you undying love to me, what are you doing here?" She asked, calling another woman over to handle the phones.

"Well, while I would love to whisk you away to my families Italian villa, I must be honest." He took her hand and gazed deeply into her soft amber eyes. "Judy, have you seen my hat?"

"Eh?" Judy blinked at the slightly taller blonde boy and tilted her head slightly. "What hat?"

"You know," He replied, letting go of her hand with a smile. "The one I wore here on the day of the interview."

Judy blinked at the boy once more before she shook her head. "But sweetie…you weren't wearing a hat when I met you…"

"I wasn't?" Greg asked softly, his eyes wide as panic flashed in his rich caramel eyes.

Judy simply shook her head, unsure of what to say to the poor boy who looked like he'd just shot his puppy.

"But maybe I'm wrong." She amended quickly, "I mean we only met twice. Let me check the lost and found."

Greg nodded to her as he wondered down the hall to sit at the same bench he'd sat on the day of his interview, only it was missing two very large twins. He knew the likely hood of his hat still being here, if it had ever been here in the first place, was small and next to none.

He was just about to sink into a little mini depression when he heard a slight southern twang trying to get his attention.

"Hey… you ok, Kid?" The voice called softly.

"Yeah." Greg replied, jumping slightly when a warm body sat next to him, a large hand landing on his shoulder, the heat reminding him of liquid fire he'd once seen in Hawaii.

"Ya Sure?"

Curiosity finally got the better of the small blonde as he rose his head and immediately went bright red.

The brunette CSI from his day from hell was leaning so close that all Greg could see was brown. Not muddy or murky, but clear like whiskey. No…something darker, something blacker, something addicting.

'Coffee,' Greg's brain supplied, staring deeply into the other man's eyes. 'His eyes remind me of fresh coffee, warm and inviting…'

It was then that Greg realized that he was leaning way to close to the man whose name he couldn't remember, but whose presence was hard to forget.

"Yup!" He replied, quickly leaning away from the other man and his burning touch. "Never better.!"

"Glad to hear it man." The large brunette replied, holding out his hand. "Nick Stokes, CSI 2."

"We've met." The blonde replied, taking Nick's hand just to feel his touch again. "Greg Sanders, I applied for the DNA position."

Nick looked confused for a second before a bright very amused smile bloomed over his face.

"Yeah man, I remember you!" He laughed. "You're the kid that set the Lab on fire."

Greg blushed and stuck his tongue out at the laughing CSI, acting like the child he was always accused of being.

"No." He replied crisply, sticking his nose in the air. "It was only the chair…. And maybe half the work bench, but that was it!"

Nick's laughter doubled as he stood, slapping the blonde on the back lightly. "Gotta get back to work. C-ya Kid."

Greg watched after the other man left, the small blush coloring his cheeks still present when Judy suddenly appeared in front of him, her hands behind her back.

"What, not giving cookies to mass murders this time?" She teased lightly.

Greg looked up at her almost unseeingly before her words sunk in and his blush brightened.

"Nah," He replied. "I thought I'd leave that to the lonely house wives for now."

The tiny red head laughed and plopped a ratty looking black fedora onto the blondes' head. "Guess you did forget it here."

Greg was so excited to see his hat that he jumped up and scooped the little woman into his arms, swinging her around in a very forties returning soldier style.

Judy found Greg's laughter infectious and soon she found herself giggling as well, her giggles unending, even as she was set back on her feet by a brightly smiling blonde.

"Well, I guess I should be going." Greg sighed, releasing the tiny red head. "Back to the grind."

The two parted with smiles and empty promises to stay in touch although both knew that they hadn't exchanged any contact information.

By this point, a small part of Greg was dieing over the thought of the running cab meter outside, but just as the yellow checkered extortion bracket was in sight, inches from being within reach, a familiar voice rose to catch his attention.

"That wouldn't be little Gregory Sanders would it?"

'You could pretend not to hear him…' Greg thought to himself even as he felt himself turning to greet the older man.

"Mayor Gale," Greg called back, tactfully ignoring the 'little' comment which the man made ever time they ever saw one another.

"Victor, please, we've known one another much to long to be so formal." The man laughed, finally reaching the younger man's side to shake his hand.

"Alright, Victor," Greg replied, taking the man's offered appendage.

"So good to see you, your father tells me that you have graduated collage already." The man said, pride-fully puffing up as if Greg were his own son.

"Yes sir," The blonde replied, smiling back at the aged man. "It's been about seven months now."

The older man nodded as if he knew exactly how long the boy had been out of school. "Have you had many offers?"

Greg nodded and proceeded to tell him about the multiple places he'd been over the past months.

"Sounds like you've had quite the adventure." Victor laughed. "I'm surprised you weren't hired here."

"I'm not," Greg replied. "My interview here was a disaster, but I'll be working at Quantico soon, so I didn't really get the sour side of the stick."

The older man nodded again. "Well, it was great catching up with you again, Greg, I'll make sure to tell my Jenny you said hi, but I really do need to get back to work. You're still waiting on your clearances right?"

At Gregs nod, the older man shook his hand again before he turned and disappeared into the Crime Lab.

"Look Kid, Ya getting in or not?" The man snapped. "Honestly, its yer money."

It was weeks later, still in job limbo, when the call came in. It was short and more of a forced command than a pleasant offer, but the Las Vegas Crime Lab had told him that if he was willing, the DNA tech position was his.

In an excited state of confusion Greg did the only thing his could think of doing, he called his mother.

"Darling, honestly, Don't ask if socks have been worn with gift shoes." Jacqueline's thick French accent advised from the other end of the phone.

"Um…Mama, I think the phrase is, 'Never look a Gift Horse in the mouth.' " Greg replied, suppressing his smile at his mothers indignant reply of, 'Who the hell would want a used horse?'.

"Never mind Mama," He laughed, more relaxed than he had been before he'd gotten the bazaar call.

Jacqueline was silent for a moment as she listened to her only son's laughter.

"Greg, Moi bebe, I know which one I would have you choose, but that wouldn't be fair for you." She sighed softly. "I know you wouldn't be happy in an environment with no element of excitement."

Greg's eyes misted with love for his mother as she gave him permission to tell 'The Man' to go stuff it's self.

'Huh…maybe that's why I haven't gotten my clearance from them yet…' He thought to himself, remembering the many different times in his life when his family had been arrested for this or that against various governments.

"I must go Bebe, be good." Jacqueline cooed, making kissy noises at her only child before she hung up, leaving Greg to make the appropriate calls.

Much to Dave's disappointment, Greg didn't actually the FBI to go take a flying leap, but Greg made sure to console him with the promise of sending homemade fake pipe bombs to various CIA officials offices with the return address tracing back to great-great aunt Meggie who in all honestly could possible still make pipe bombs despite her one hundred and two years. Fake or not.

The first day of work was different from the day of the interview. At least, the morning was.

The alarm went off at the right time, the car started, traffic was light, he even found a close-ish parking spot, and that is where it stopped being different.

Captain Jim Brass wasn't happy about being strong armed into hiring a no experience fresh faced kid who had failed his practical interview with flying colors.

"You need a new tech Jim," Victor had said after observing their once pristine, highly qualified, upstanding Lab technician have a small melt down in the lab amongst the grave shift over flow and the day shift back log.

As a joke, Jim had come back with , "And I'm sure you have just the person in mind.", which had obviously been a mistake as he'd been forcefully nudged to hire the child, not even old enough to drink, as his lead DNA specialist.

Looking at the boy who was maybe a year or two younger than his own little girl, Ellie. The kid was dressed in a pair of stone washed jeans and a white long sleeved full colored shirt, not a bad look if it hadn't been finished off with ratty red chuck taylors and a set of faded brow to gold sun glasses pushed up into his messy sun kissed blonde hair.

The kid looked like he'd just stepped off the cover of 'Teen Vogue', he wouldn't last two weeks.

"And I'm sure you remember this room." Jim said snidely, leading the boy into the DNA lab after having had him in the interrogation room filling out paper work for most of the morning.

"Hard to forget." Greg replied with a laugh.

"Yeah, well, your shift is starting now, so your lab coat is in your locker, dinner is pretty far off, so I'd grab a cup of coffee, and I'd do it quick." The short man chuckled softly. "The CSIs don't like to be kept waiting…"

Greg's eyes grew wide as he rushed to get clocked in and back to the lab before he was needed. He knew it had been odd when he hadn't been required to punch in earlier.

Through the night, even though Greg had tried to be friendly with the other lab workers no one had even smiled at him, seemed the only person who did smile at him was Judy who always seemed to be at the lab, as if she had no where better to be.

Later that night, after the CSIs had criticized him for not being fast enough, even though he couldn't make the machines go any faster than they were, and he'd gotten nasty looks from the techs all night, the poor blonde was ready to throw in the towel.

"Hang in there hunny," Judy encouraged, her presence once more reminding Greg that he'd said hello to her when he'd come in that morning and that she was still here more than eight hours later. "Every rain cloud has a silver lining."

Greg merely nodded as he clocked out and gave a half hearted wave to the chipper red head, mentally raging about the fact that this rain cloud was to dark to have a silver lining.

But just like in the movies, or a great t.v. show, it was just then that Greg collided with another body that was similarly not paying attention to their surroundings, causing Greg to fall back wards and the other man to stumble back and look up from his mail.

"Who are you?" The man asked, the voice causing Greg's head to snap up to stare at the owner of said voice.

The voice was older than he remembered, but no less rich or smooth. It was a voice that had fueled quite a few of his early wet dreams when he was younger, a voice that had unknowingly changed Greg entire world at the tender age of eight.

Moving his eyes away from the beautiful mouth that had gained a few more line since he had last seen it, to the eyes that were no less startling than they had been all the years ago in that lecture hall. Icy blue orbs alive with a passion and total belief in what he was talking about.

It was those eyes that had driven him through school, those eyes so beautiful as they danced with inner fire, the same eyes that were now watching him with obvious confusion as the mouth he'd been staring at moments before began to move once more.

"I asked if you were ok?" The older man asked again, this time holding out his hand to help the kid off the ground.

"Yeah…" Greg breathed, practically melting as he took the other man's hand. "I…um, I'm Greg."

"That's nice." The other man replied, giving the boy's hand a firm shake once he was one his feet again. "Gil Grissom. Are you waiting for someone?"

"Ah…no." Greg replied with a blush, taking his hand back to quickly shove it in his pocket as he tried to ignore the wild tingles that shot up and down his arm from the short contact. "I just got off work actually."

"Oh, I didn't know we hired interns here." Gil replied, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he gave Greg a once over.

"No, I'm the new DNA guy, you know. Here to replace the woman that had the break down?" Greg paused and then the thought hit him that maybe Gil didn't know about it, maybe she hadn't worked on his shift or something and before he could stop himself, his mouth continued to move.

"Or maybe you don't know, I think her name was Beth, or Helen…or maybe Kelly…yeah Kelly seems right, but she couldn't take the pressure or something, at least that's what Judy told me."

It was about then that he noticed a look of panic on the poor man's face so he simply smiled and shut up, allowing the man to make an excuse and leave.

And as he watched the man leave he couldn't help but look back at Judy and smile brightly at her. She'd been right.

He'd found his silver lining.

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Hey everyone! Well that's it for the second chapter, what did you think? Don't forget to review.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the first chapter, with out your wonderful support this chapter wouldn't be getting out to you as quick as it is. So thanks again!

Kat


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